Monthly Archives: April 2012

Along with the recent troubles that Lone Star went through to sell Korea Exchange Bank, foreign investors are more and more wary about putting money in Korea. A new report released today shows the harmful effects it is having on the Korean economy.
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Back in December of last year, the well-respected Bloomberg Businessweek magazine referred to doing business in Korea as “Foreign Peril” and called the country “hostile to foreigners.”

Not exactly the press you want being read by wealthy investors perusing the publications in first class on the airplane.

Whether it’s exaggerated by the media or not, Korea’s anemic 3% growth of foreign direct investment not only proves foreign reluctance to do business in Korea, and newly released numbers show the great harm an anti-foreign stance is causing the country.

A report released today by the Hyundai Research Institute, a Seoul-based think tank, said that Korea has lost some 660,000 jobs due to foreigners weary of investing here on the peninsula.

Just recently the government has twice tried to sell its 57% stake in Woori Bank, but foreign investors have steered clear of the hostile Korean market with its fickle public, shaped by nationalist politicians and a foreigner-investor unfriendly media.

During the (Woori Bank) sales process, both domestic and foreign investors will be treated equally under Korean law,” Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission.

The fact that the government need even issue this statement is troublesome. If you were a foreign investor, what kind of message would this send to you?

The reason the government has to make the statement is because of foreign investors like Lone Star who get run through the ringer. Whether due to biased or intentionally over-burdensome regulation, public protest or lack of transparency, the Lone Star PR debacle is simply the most visible of the continuing problems attributed to a deep-seeded aversion to foreign business by the Korean public.

What kind of message does it send when a company comes in, buys a troubled bank, rebuilds it into the country’s fifth largest financial institution, creates jobs, preserves people’s savings, and then can’t profit from its efforts?

Even more perplexing is the very people it helped are in the streets screaming bloody murder.

Lone Star bought the then 28-year-old Korea Exchange Bank in 2003, when no domestic buyers weren’t interested. After bringing KEB back to prominence, Lone Star spent five years in regulatory hell dealing with the courts, regulators and lawmakers –all incited by public backlash and unfavorable media.

The word “Meogtwi” in Korean, which translates to “eat-and-run” in English, was frequently cited to describe Lone Star’s KEB sale in the media.

Lone Star was finally allowed to sell the bank to Korean-owned Hana Bank for $3.4 billion, an almost 50 percent reduction of what Britain’s HSBC offered in 2007, which was blocked by the Korean government wilting in the face of public outcry.

Though Hana Bank got a great deal (knowing KEB had no choice) and kept the profits in country, so fierce was the public protest that KEB got anything, Hana Bank’s Korean CEO stepped down in the face of it.

And yet, while people in Seoul were taunting government officials in protest where were they in 2002 when Korean conglomerate LG bought out a struggling bank in Poland at a discount, turned the bank around to profitability and then did the same thing as Lone Star –sold it at a profit?”

“Investors would look at this case (Lone Star) as a kind of horror show, where every kind of risk that is hated by professional investors seemed to show up and create a massive distortion of intelligent markets. This case has made the prospects much, much worse for Woori.”

Appointed government regulators, to their credit, are trying to fight back against the public’s wrong-headed attitude towards foreign investment, but politicians wanting to get voted back in to office know better than to cross a voting-age mob.

In short, this is flying directly in the face of Korea being able to establish itself as the much hoped for and much hyped goal of being “Asia’s foreign financial hub.”

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Hal David, principal for Cedartown High School in northwest Georgia is cracking down on sexy dresses at the prom this year.

“We’ve never had a problem until this year,” says David. “It was at homecoming when we first saw the dresses our students were wearing — and they were inappropriate, unacceptable.”

Students were given a six-page handout explaining what they could and could not wear to the prom which included photos of acceptable and unacceptale attire.

The handout states:

The Cedartown High School Administration wants you to make good choices. We are not trying to inhibit your individual style. Prom should be fun and memorable, but we also want everyone to be comfortable, safe, and show Bulldog PRIDE.
With modesty and safety in mind, the following dress code guidelines will be enforced at the 2012 Cedartown High School Prom activities. Failure to adhere to the dress code standards will prevent your participation in the event

The students must bring back a signed copy of the handout before they can be put on the list to attend prom.

Alrighty then. So, what is acceptable and unnacceptable? Here are the photos from the handout .

Acceptable

Unacceptable

One can only hope that one clever student will wear somthing like this to make a point:

I am guessing this dress worn by Lost cast member Michelle Rodriguez would be off limits. What a shame.

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On April 24th, around 5000 passengers were stuck at Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport due to thick fog. To ease the people’s stress while waiting to take off, the airport dispatched a cheerleading team to the main terminal. When I first saw the pics I figured it had to be Japan, but no, this is Chinese ingenuity.

Last weekend as the first of two identical weekends of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival drew to a close, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg unveiled a shocking surprise when the pair reincarnated slain West Coast superstar Tupac Shakur onstage in a hologram-like image that rapped and danced along with the two very alive heavyweights.

Protest is a democratic right and by all means make use of it, but tens of thousands taking to the street clinging to an absurd notion that the U.S. beef industry and the Korean president Lee Myung Bak sought to kill them with tainted beef?

The world looked on in wonder.

Following the recent announcement that one cow in a lot of 40,000 tested in California was positive for Mad Cow, Korean retailers have already begun to pull American beef off the shelves.

Home Plus and Lotte Mart, the country’s No. 2 and No. 3 supermarket chains, along with Lotte Department Store, said they have “temporarily” halted sales of U.S. beef to “calm worries” among South Koreans.

Not exactly the way to calm worries, but fair enough, they are independent businesses allowed to do as they please. Several American chains are doing the same as are some in Taiwan. Japan and Russia, two other large U.S. beef importers, have yet to weigh in.

South Korea’s leading grocery chain leader, E-Mart, said it won’t pull U.S. beef from shelves until it hears the government’s response. I admire their prudence –actually waiting to hear how things play out less than 36 hours into it. E-Mart can count on my business in the future. (And, truth be told, they are right down the street from my house).

Think Things Through Before Going on the Warpath

Demonstrations are a part of life in free societies like South Korea, where an average of 11,000 protests take place a year. This is a great thing –power to the people.

A vast majority of those who hit the streets in anger in 2008 were young people, much like the university students I teach everyday. To them I say at least consider a few things before pointing fingers and calling for blood.

A few points to consider:

There is no concerted effort by the cattle industry to kill people. If so, who is going to buy their product? This is not the Chinese government covering up the widespread melamine problem and allowing people to die, rather than alert them to the danger, just to protect the country’s image during the 2008 Olympics.

The government doesn’t want you dead either. If you die who is going to pay taxes, defend the country, invent new apps for your smart phone and pray that Lady Gaga leaves the country before her show?

Rely on credible news sources. Unlike the reprehensible PD Notebook news program that falsified facts saying that there were deaths due to Mad Cow in America, there are several reliable news sources to get your info from. Make use of them.

Simply don’t buy the product. The greatest damage you can do and the greatest way to alter an industry’s behavior is by hitting them where it counts –the wallet.

The short of it is, disease happens. And once discovered, actions are taken to protect public health in responsible countries like South Korea and the U.S. There is no reason to go on the warpath, burning and destroying property, alienating allies and threatening lives over something that occurred without malice.

Do you get angry at your friend when he or she catches the flu? No, you stay away from them until they resolve the situation. Prudence my friends, prudence.

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Love them, hate them, deplore their government’s sense of geography and history, the Japanese culture is just plain cool. In this occasional series I will highlight peculiarities of this unique collection of people on that big island in the East Sea of Japan’s West…whatever.

Entry #1: Laser Decorated Sushi

What the Japanese call a Makisushi and the Koreans call Kim Bap, has been given a long needed upgrade after languishing in insipidity for centuries. Apparently someone was sitting in the office trying to figure out a new use for lasers and decided to cut patterns into sheets of seaweed and presto! Decorative handrolls!

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To say it has nearly become cliche, but suicide is a serious problem in South Korea. Since the year 2000, cases of people taking their own lives has DOUBLED. For women it has doubled in the past four years alone.

Overall, the suicide rate in Korea is triple that of other industrialized nations, and is currently the leading cause of death among Koreans in their teens, 20s and 30s. By contrast suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in America.

It stretches the boundary of reason to consider that everyday over 40 Koreans take their own lives. When coupled with the lowest birth rate in the world, suicide has become a public health crisis of troubling proportions.

For the general population overall, cancer, followed by brain and heart disease are the three biggest killers in Korea, while suicides come in at fourth. An odd ordering of the top three ailments that one kills themselves with slowly while the quick way out shoots its way up in the rankings.

According to a report released today based on data from Statistics Korea, the annual deaths of youths aged 15-24 by suicide surpassed that of traffic accidents as the leading cause of death. Currently, 14% of all adolescent deaths were a result of them taking their own lives.

As for the young folk, the suicide notes of more than half attributed their choice to end it all to stress due to academic work, including school grades and college preparation.

“The data shows there’s a serious problem within our social structure in terms of education and the economy,” a researcher told the Korea Times. “The education system makes teenagers severely depressed. Also, workers and college students in their early 20s have difficulty coping with inflation.”

And while the most recent report highlights the alarming rise in suicides among adolescents, the problem reaches every part of society. Even the richest man in Korea, Samsung head, Lee Kun Hee, has had both a daughter and a nephew take their own lives.

What to Do?

It is interesting to consider that scientists go to work everyday seeking to find cures to major diseases, but what is being done about the other major killer in this society?

Addressing the problem of teen suicide in particular puts the government in a precarious position. How can it address the problem of rigid education standards when it has contributed so much to its success economically?

Would it, in effect, be committing economic suicide by easing up on the kids? Or, is this a pivot point for the country where it can bring two birds to life with one stone?

On the one hand, the high suicide rate is attributed to the relentless pursuit of passing tests with the use of rote learning. On the other hand, Korea suffers from a dearth of creativity on the world stage due to the lack of critical thinking being taught in the classroom. Could a re-engineering of the education process not address both of these dilemmas?

I will be very curious to see how the country’s leadership addresses the situation in the coming months and years. It has reached a critical point and it is about time that they do.

This will require more than public service announcements and posters. The need for a fundamental change is at hand.

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World Wide Suicide Rates (from the OECD)

One would imagine the bottom ranked Greeks will see a rise in more recent surveys what with their economy being in the shitter and all.

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I was there back in the day, during the origins of Hip Hop, battling it out with my rivals on the corners and on my home turf at the Meridian Quad in San Jose, California. I was fortunate during my short-lived time as a rapper that I actually opened in front of 5,000 people for Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, Whodini and the Fat Boys in Stockton on December 4, 1984 during the nationwide tour of the Fresh Fest.

I have been meaning to write the story down of my one year as Bee~Mac, the Rapper Supreme. It was wild. I will get to it, I promise.

Yeah, I was dope… though we called it “fresh” back then. And I had the novelty of being one of the few White boys doing it way back when.

At any rate, the Koreans have taken B-Boy (the dance style born out of the same era) to the next level, and here is a clever video featuring some of the country’s finest. (For an explanation of the last few seconds of the video go here. Sigh.)

Video Credits:

“What I See-Prepix MV”
Director – Prepix Haw
Music
Look “2” Listen
Prepix – What I see (feat.Yongjunhyung of B2ST,Beenzino,Esna)
composed by electrue

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A few weeks back, former DC Mayor and one time world’s most famous crackhead John, Marion Barry, lashed out at Asian-owned shops as being “dirty” and saying that they “oughta go” and be replaced by African American business owners. Here is the video (and the impressive fashion statement) posted by an ardent supporter.

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After a few days of pressure Barry, who currently serves on the DC city council (because democracy is a wonderful thing), went on to issue something of an apology to Washington’s Asian-American community.

While he did address the concerns of Asians. who make up 3.5 percent of District residents and Asian-owned businesses that make up 6 percent of the District’s economy, he did not step away from some of the specific criticisms he made with respect to carry-out restaurants.

The statement, issued via Twitter, reads:

I’m very sorry for offending the Asian-American community. Although taken out of context by many about the conditions of some Ward 8 carryouts, the comment was meant to convey that some stores need better service to and engagement with the community than what is provided now. To improve food places in Ward 8, owners have to move beyond status quo. Take down the plexiglass, offer healthy food, keep [business] clean and inviting. And anyone NOT from Ward 8, you may want to actually EXPERIENCE the difference of what IS and what CAN BE here in [Southeast]. I admit, I could and should have said it differently. But the facts are still very present in our daily lives here.We are tired of sub-standard treatment, tired of being kept an arms length distance, tired of the lack of community engagement. As stated before, our neighborhoods have made remarkable improvement over the last 7 years. Our retail needs to catch up. It costs nothing to keep the store clean. Nothing to add healthy items. Nothing to know your patrons. Nothing to have the will to do better. I do hope that as much attention focused on my admittedly bad choice of words will be given to the very real and present retail needs of [Southeast]

After Barry left, Cho told reporters that he installed plexiglass in his shop after being shot during a robbery and went on to say that Barry “hasn’t been active” recently in the community (at least not as active as local gunmen) and that “Mr. Barry is like a flip-flop. He says one thing and then turns around and says something different.” I guess that makes Barry a “bad African?”

But wait, there’s more

Over the weekend, in an on the spot interview with ReasonTV, Barry was asked why he made the racial comments against Asians and Barry replied that his comments “were not racial” and that “There is a cultural difference between a number of ethnic groups.”

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Judging by his demeanor and speech pattern he is certainly off that crack, and that is good, but he keeps tossing out that 95% Asian ownership number which doesn’t jibe with government numbers of Asians contributing 6% to local economy (which is nearly double for their demographic of 3.5%) so perhaps his drug of choice has changed to something that affects memory loss?

How this guy is still in office is remarkable. Even more remarkable is that none of the heavy hitters in the Democratic establishment have adequately addressed the issue. Granted, it is an election year, and Barry is a live grenade.

I will close with my heartfelt thanks to the fine voters in the DC district and their exceptionally adept discernment when choosing who to leads them. It’s been tough, perhaps, for the entrepreneurial disinclined, to watch one foreign ethnic group after another immigrate to the country, grab a nice chunk of the local economy and then move to better neighborhoods only to be replaced by another ethnic group from somewhere else.

Worry not Marion, those Asians will be out of your neighborhood soon enough taking 6.5% of the economy with them. They should be applauded not singled out as a detriment.